


Thunder and Lightning

by moonsnail



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Death, Falling In Love, Fluff, Ghosts, Homophobia, M/M, Murder, Religious References, Spirits, liam isn't a very good devil, life after death, louis isn't that great of an angel either, this is literally all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:39:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsnail/pseuds/moonsnail
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is dead and he has three tasks to complete in order to go to Heaven. Liam is trying to convince him that Hell is the right place for him. Louis is pretty sure he belongs in Heaven, though.</p>
<p>- - -<br/>He watches the tears stream down his mother's face as she carefully opens the bag and pours its contents into the urn. Harry feels an ache in his heart for his mum for having to memorialize her own child like this. He feels like he needs to let her know that he's still here, he hasn't gone anywhere. He quickly makes his way over to the television, plunges his hand through his cat Dusty, whose standing in front of the power switch, and turns it on. Harry's mum jumps and turns.</p>
<p>“Dusty! You can't go scaring me like that, turning on the telly.” Harry's mum tsks her disapproval and gets up to turn the television off. Harry's heart sinks a little. He feels like he's already been forgotten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunder and Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> **This work is marked as mature due to mentions of homophobia and religious references. If you are looking for smut or porn, this is not where you will find it.**
> 
> This fic is inspired by The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash. I had already been kind of thinking of what I could do with ghost!Harry and ghost!Louis and the song just sort of fit and the idea vomited out of my fingers and into my fic ideas word file I keep. Part of this was also inspired by the US version of Being Human, and another part by my mom (see end notes, but only after you've read!).
> 
> I really cranked this one out. My tumblr is moonsnail.tumblr.com if you want to message me or follow me or whatever you want to do. Please leave your negativity at the door, though.
> 
> Lastly, please use your ~imagination~ and pretend that weathermen and women do not exist in this fic. :D

All Harry remembers about his death is seeing himself leaning against the steering wheel of a sedan, blood streaming from somewhere under his mop of curly hair. He remembers watching the paramedics and fire department arrive. He watched them cut him out of the car and pronounce him dead on arrival.

The day after he died, he saw his mother bring a small cross and a wreath with her to the place he had his accident. He watched her hammer the cross into the ground and sob as she placed the wreath against it. He saw her kneel down at the marker and pray that he get accepted into Heaven. And that, he's sure, is what got him in his current predicament.

\- - -

“Your soul would look exceptional next to mine, Harry.” Harry jumps and turns, not expecting another spirit to be haunting his mother's home.

“My soul?” Harry asks. The other spirit is a little shorter than he is, the fuzz of a buzz cut instead of hair on his head, with tattoos going down his right arm.

“Your soul.” The other spirit repeats.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Harry asks. He's really not sure why there's another spirit in his mother's home. He has no reason to be there, especially since Harry is the only person his mother knows who's died recently.

“My name is Liam. I'm here for your soul.” Liam states, as if it should be obvious. Harry knits his eyebrows together.

“Why do you want my soul?” Harry questions.

“I told you. It would look exceptional next to mine.” Liam smirks and disappears, leaving Harry even more confused than he was before.

\- - -

Harry watches his mum bring home a fairly large plastic bag, full of what looks like a mixture of really fine dirt and sand. She's also got a shopping bag with her, which she places on the table first. She doesn't put the bag of sand stuff down, but places it on her lap once she's sat down.

It remains on her lap as she pulls a fancy vase with a lid out of the shopping bag. The vase is made of bronze and looks like the decorations were carefully etched on. At the base, Harry's full name is inscribed with a pair of dates. February 1, 1994 – April 27, 2013. It's an urn, Harry realizes, and the bag of dirt on his mother's lap is his cremated body. A shiver runs down his spine, bringing goosebumps to the surface of his skin.

He watches the tears stream down his mother's face as she carefully opens the bag and pours its contents into the urn. Harry feels an ache in his heart for his mum for having to memorialize her own child like this. He feels like he needs to let her know that he's still here, he hasn't gone anywhere. He quickly makes his way over to the television, plunges his hand through his cat Dusty, whose standing in front of the power switch, and turns it on. Harry's mum jumps and turns.

“Dusty! You can't go scaring me like that, turning on the telly.” Harry's mum tsks her disapproval and gets up to turn the television off. Harry's heart sinks a little. He feels like he's already been forgotten.

\- - -

“Hello.” Harry turns around, wondering what yet another spirit is doing in his home. He sees a shorter lad, dressed in bright blue skinny jeans and a striped shirt. He's not wearing shoes and his neck has large bruises in the shape of hand prints spanning around it.

“Are you here for my soul, too?” Harry guesses, kind of annoyed that other spirits think they can just waltz into his mother's home like they own it.

“How did you know?” The new spirit raises his eyebrows and they disappear a little under his fringe.

“Liam wanted it, too.”

“You already met Liam?”

“Yep. You gonna tell me your name?” Harry asks, noticing that this spirit is exceptionally pretty.

“M'name is Louis.” Louis sighs. “I suppose Liam told you the rules, then?”

“Rules? There are rules to being dead?” Harry snickers, thinking that's the stupidest thing he'd heard since he died.

“Erm, no. There are rules to determine where you go when your time runs out.” Louis says it like its obvious.

“Where I go? My time runs out? What?” That's new information.

“You can't stay like this forever, Harry. You have to go to either Heaven, Hell, or waste away after a while. Where you go depends on you, though, and if you're willing to find closure.” Louis explains.

“Find closure?” Harry repeats. Louis nods.

“You're like this because you have unfinished business. Normally, you would stay like this until you figure it out on your own or we get to your name, but your case has been moved to the top of the list because many people asked for you to move on safely.” Louis adds.

“People want me to move on?” Harry repeats, still trying to process what Louis is telling him. Louis nods again, aware this is a lot to take in.

“I'm here to help you find closure if you want it and help you go to Heaven. Liam is here to drag you to Hell, if closure isn't what you want. He's also here to try and foil my attempts at helping you, just as I am here to foil his attempts at helping you.” Louis pauses. “Do you want closure, Harry?”

\- - -

"So how do I get closure?" Harry questions, not quite sure where Louis is going with this.

"You get closure by completing three tasks. They're all things you wanted to do while you were alive but didn't get the chance to. They could be anything, from breaking a pencil to visiting Taiwan." Louis pauses, waiting for some indication that Harry understands. He nods. "The tasks will come to you when the timing is right, and you'll know it's a task based on your intuition."

"Intuition?" Harry asks, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds so very exact."

Louis rolls his eyes and continues. "If you complete all three tasks before your time is up, you will be granted passage to Heaven. If you decide not to complete all three tasks, you have the option of going to Hell. You can also choose to go to neither Heaven or Hell."

"And what if I decide to stay?" Harry asks.

"Hell will come to you." Louis says ominously.

\- - -

Harry and Louis are crouching behind a bush outside of his old school. It's pretty ridiculous, Harry thinks, considering no one can see them. But he goes with it anyways, knowing Louis would yell at him if he didn't.

Harry had accepted Louis' offer to find closure and move on to Heaven, which is why he finds himself behind a bush. He mostly agreed because he wanted to spend more time with Louis, who he thought was pretty cute for being dead, despite the hand prints wrapping around his neck.

“Harry! Pay attention!” Louis snaps, grabbing Harry's head and turning it towards the school, not patient enough to wait for him to regain his focus.

“Sorry, sorry.” Harry mumbles as the bell rings and kids start flooding out of the school like a herd of cattle.

“Which one is it?” Louis asks, as if he's talking about what Harry's favorite color is and not an actual person.

“I told you, Lou. It's a teacher, not a student.” Harry explains again.

“So?” Louis replies. Harry just stares at him, trying not to be annoyed. “What? It's been like, more than a decade since I've been anywhere near a school.” Harry bursts out laughing at that. “What?” Louis looks at him.

“More than a decade?!” Harry says between giggles. “How old are you?”

“I'm twenty one!” Louis narrows his eyes at Harry, who's still giggling. Louis slaps his arm, hard.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Harry squeals.

“It's rude to ask someone their age.” Louis snaps.

“I thought that was only for women.” Harry shoots back. Louis grits his teeth.

“Let's just focus on the task at hand, shall we?” He suggests, tired of talking about how old he was. It reminded him of the last person he saw before he died.

“Fine.” Harry huffs, but refocuses his attention anyways. Both boys remain crouched behind the bush, waiting for the majority of the students to leave. Louis had said something about not wanting to run into mediums, whatever those were, which is why he insisted they remain behind the bushes until everyone left.

“How did you die, Harry?” Louis finally sits, his thighs getting tired of crouching for so long.

“Car accident, I think. Did they not tell you?” Harry sits as well, relieved that he doesn't have to worry about dirt sticking to the seat of his pants anymore.

“Nope. They don't tell us anything but a name and show us a picture so we don't get the wrong spirit.” Louis cracks his knuckles, hoping Harry won't ask how he died. He always hated answering that question. It brought back bad memories and people ended up showing false empathy. Or disgust.

“Oh. How did you die?” Harry asks, feeling Louis tense beside him.

“We're not here to talk about _me_. This is about _you_.” Louis insists, hoping a subject change would get Harry's mind off of his death. “Which reminds me, why _are_ we here?” Harry blushes at that, embarrassed by why he had to be here.

“Do I have to tell you?” He asks sheepishly.

“Yes.”

“You know how when you're in an English class and they pass novels out when you start a unit on them?” Harry starts. Louis nods. “Well, Ms. Calder had passed novels out one day and when I got home, my friend Niall and I were play fighting and we ended up ripping the book in half. I felt really bad and didn't get the chance to buy her a new one. Or at least tape it back together. Which is why we're here.” Harry finishes.

“What was Ms. Calder's first name?” Louis thinks the name sounds vaguely familiar, like the name of someone he knew when he was alive. He just couldn't place the name to a face.

“Um, Eleanor? I think.” Harry is confused as to why all Louis focused on was his teacher. Louis' eyes widened.

“I think I know her. Well, knew her.” Louis says. “She used to be one of my best mates. Before I...” Louis pauses, choosing his next word carefully. “Died.” He adds awkwardly.

“Really?” Harry's surprised to find out Louis might've known his teacher.

“Yeah.” Louis sighs. “You should go in and fix that book or whatever. I'll wait here.” Louis adds, feeling uncomfortable talking about his life.

“Alright.” Harry gets up and dusts his bottom off out of habit before disappearing. Louis stares at the spot where Harry's apparition stood a moment before, thinking. He's startled when another figure pops into the space, holding a roll of packing tape.

“Liam.” Louis sighs. “Did you just ruin this for him?”

“Hello to you too, Louis.” Liam grins, mischief glinting in his eyes. “I might've ruined it.”

“Fucking devils.” Louis mumbles, hoping that Harry would find another way to fix the stupid book.

“I wouldn't say that if I were you, Louis. I'm not the one who was fucking the wrong person before I died.” Liam spits. “I'm not even sure why you were let into Heaven. I thought God was big on keeping the gays out.” Louis face reddened.

“You know that's not true anymore. Besides, you're one to talk. It's not like you're any straighter than I am.” Louis takes a deep breath, trying to remain calm. He really doesn't like where this conversation is going.

“I suppose you're right. But my sexuality didn't get me killed.” Liam hisses, an evil grin appearing on his face as he disappears with the tape. Louis loses his cool at that, accidentally letting loose a roll of thunder in the distance. He hoped none of the other devils in the area took that as a signal to prepare for a storm. Louis certainly did not plan on crying over his own death (or anything else, for that matter) any time soon. Harry reappears then, his brow furrowed.

“I couldn't find any tape in her class room for some reason, but I managed to nick some from the front office. I fixed the book.” Harry says, unaware as to what just happened.

“Really? Good.” Louis' voice is flat. Harry's eyebrows knit even closer together.

“Did you hear that thunder?” Harry asks, deciding to change the subject. “It was really loud.” He adds.

“Yeah, someone's really pissed.” Louis smirks, glad that Harry didn't know that it was him that caused the thunder.

“What? Who's mad?”

“Dunno. Another angel in the area, probably.” Louis' smirk turns into a grin when he sees Harry stumbling over the word.

“Angel?” He asks, incredulous. “Wait, are _you_ an angel?!” Harry adds, his eyes wide.

“Yeah. I thought you'd figured that out.” Louis giggles.

“No, I didn't.” Harry mumbles, feeling stupid. “Why would thunder mean an angel is pissed, anyways?”

“Didn't your mum ever tell you how storms were made?” Louis teases. Harry shakes his head. Louis raises an eyebrow. He thought most kids had heard the story, but he explains it   
anyways.

“When it rains, it's because an angel in the area is crying. It could be for any reason. If the angel is angry and crying at the same time, you get rain and thunder.” He starts, looking at Harry to see if he's following. He sees Harry nod and continues. “If there are devils in the area, like Liam,” Louis pauses, smiling when Harry's eyes widen at that. “The devils might join in. They bring the lightning into the mix. They throw the bolts down, trying to aim for living humans. Their aim is complete shit, though. Which is why its such a rare occurrence when someone is struck by lightning, and trees end up getting hit a lot.” Louis giggles at that, an image of Liam missing his target several times popping into his mind. Harry just stares at him, his mouth gaping.

“Um, okay.” Harry tries, at a loss for words.

“Did you finish your job, then?”

“Uh, yeah.” Harry nods.

“Good.” Louis smiles.

\- - -

“You finished it anyways.” Liam says, startling Harry so much that he jerks off of the bed and falls, not able to catch himself before he starts to slip through to the first floor. It's hard having no matter and being transparent.

“Finished what?” Harry grumbles, finally upright and floating back into his room through the floor. He gets stuck on something halfway and sighs, sticking his hands out and gesturing for Liam to pull him through.

“Your first closure task.” Liam grabs Harry and yanks him up the rest of the way through the floor with a grunt as if Harry weighed a lot.

“I. Yeah, I suppose.” Harry shrugs. He wasn't particularly impressed with himself for taping a book back together, but Liam seemed impressed.

“I thought you'd fail and come with me to Hell.” Liam pouts playfully and snaps his fingers, the roll of packing tape popping into his hand. Harry looks at the packing tape and his eyes widen when he sees the name “CALDER” written in block letters on the inside of the roll.

“That's why there was no tape in her room. You little thief!” Harry accuses.

“Yep. I was really disappointed, though. I didn't think to look in the other rooms...” Liam trails off, a wistful look in his eyes. Harry watches him for a moment.

“Why are you here, Liam?” Harry's not sure why Liam wants him to go to Hell. He doesn't seem like that bad of a person. Or spirit.

“I'm here to convince you to come to Hell with me, of course.” Liam sing-songs. Harry rolls his eyes.

“Obviously that's why you're here. But all you've done is shown me stolen tape and muddle over your failed plan.” He pauses. Harry's a bit annoyed. He'd only just gotten some alone time and wanted to make good use of it. “So, why should I go to Hell with you?” He prompts.

“You'll get to live like this forever.” Liam gestures to himself. “You'll also become an honorary devil!” Liam grins. “If you pass the test.”

“What's an honorary devil? What test do I have to pass?” Harry asks, glad they're finally getting somewhere in the conversation.

“Honorary devils are spirits who roam the earth and tempt people to sin and convince them to go to Hell. All you have to do is impress Satan.” Liam says it like its easy to impress someone like Satan.

“How do you impress him?”

“Honestly, it's not even that hard.” Liam muses. “All I did was steal some candy from a kid, the kid cried and Satan made me an honorary devil. I would assume the only point behind the test was to make sure you could actually do something bad.” Harry stares at Liam, unblinking. It seemed stupid to test people to make sure they weren't completely pure. There had to be some other draw to get people to go to Hell.

“What else is there in Hell?” Liam shivers a little at the question.

“Urm, it's a lot like people describe it?” Liam asks, not sure if he really wants to divulge this information. Harry furrows his brow.

“Answer the question, Liam.”

“Well, there's fire... And brimstone. It's where the demons hang out. They do a lot of inter-species fighting.” Liam looks down, kind of sheepish that Hell doesn't have something more interesting to offer.

“Hell doesn't sound very great. Why did you go there in the first place?” Harry is surprised at how little Hell has to offer.

“To spite God.” Liam says casually, shrugging.

“What?” Harry splutters out.

“My last kidney failed. I stopped getting it checked regularly because I was sick of going to the doctor and it failed. There's not really any visible symptoms of kidney failure, which is why I look normal. My parents and I were very religious, and prayed every day that my last kidney would last me the rest of my life. He obviously didn't answer any of our prayers.” Liam snorts at that.

“How is that spiting God?!” Harry shouts, incredulous.

“I was bumped to the top of the list, Harry. For no reason. God obviously had some sort of plan for me to become an angel and do whatever angels do up in Heaven, but he should've taken a different route to get me there. When he refused to answer my prayers, he betrayed me.” Liam shrugs again.

“Oh.” Harry isn't sure what to say.

“Well, I've got to get going, Harry. See you at your next task!” Liam calls cheerfully as he disappears again.

\- - -

“What else do we need to do?” Louis pops up next to Harry, making him jump and Dusty hiss and take off. Harry glared at Louis for scaring the cat. He'd been trying to pet the cat, wanting to remember the soft feel of his fur again.

“You know, I felt like I should've pet Dusty more when I was alive.” Harry says sarcastically. “Too bad you just ruined it for me.” He adds, trying to hide a smirk.

“Shut up.” Louis rolls his eyes and smacks Harry's arm.

“Owww!” Harry whines. “What was that for?!”

“For being a twat.” Louis grins. “But, seriously. What's next, young Harold?”

“You're pretty mean for an angel.” Harry grumbles, frowning. “I dunno what's next.” He admits.

“Well, we need to hurry up and figure it out.” Louis offers. Harry groans.

"Why do I even need to figure it out? Why can't I just stay here?” Harry is whining again.

“You can't stay here, Harry. That's why you have to figure it out.” Louis sighs. He doesn't want to explain why he has to figure it out.

“But _why_ , Lou?” Harry pouts.

“If you don't finish you'll lose your soul.” Louis whispers, looking away.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...” Louis takes a deep breath. “I mean you'll lose your soul. You won't have anything to tell you what's right or wrong. You'll be stuck in this house for the rest of eternity, haunting it. Actually haunting it.”

“Aren't I already haunting it?” Harry quips, pretty sure that since he's a ghost, he's already haunting whatever area he settles in.

“Well, in a way.” Louis explains. “When you lose your soul, you become like the spirits in those movies. Your soul becomes something evil, forcing you to forget yourself. You haunt people with the intention to hurt them, Harry. You start to break apart their soul while they're still alive.” Louis says solemnly.

A lump forms in Harry's throat at the seriousness of what Louis' just told him. He doesn't want to lose his soul and he especially doesn't want to rip apart the souls of a living person. He especially doesn't want to shred the soul of his mother or sister. He wouldn't be able to live with knowing he'd done that. Or, not live. Well, he wouldn't be able to remember it, he reasons, if he forgets himself. Harry shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. No, he needed to make the conscious decision to not shred any souls. He takes a deep breath, preparing himself for what he's about to say.

“I want to go to Heaven.” Harry says, sure of himself. Louis grins.

“I knew you did.” Louis whispers as he throws his arms around Harry's neck, standing on his tiptoes to reach. Harry blushes, wraps his own arms around Louis waist, and buries his head in Lou's neck.

\- - -

“Lou?” Louis hums in response. “Will you tell me how you died?” Harry's heart drops a little when he feels Louis tense beside him. Their hug earlier had somehow turned into them having a cuddle in bed.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Louis swallows audibly, still unsure as to whether he should tell Harry what happened. It seemed like he was the kind of guy to be pissed at something like that.

“I think so.” Harry says after a moment. “Will you tell me?”

“I was murdered.” Louis mumbles. Harry's eyes widen.

“Murdered? Why? What happened?” Louis coughs.

“I – yeah. The guy beat me and then strangled me.” Louis whispers, still worried about how Harry will react. “He said,” Louis pauses and feels tears form in his eyes. “He said I was a sinner because I was gay. He called me a faggot and some other... things. The police never caught the guy or figured out why he killed me, though.” A light rain started to spatter on the window. Louis was crying, now. He hated talking about his death. He hated that people still thought that sexuality was an issue. Harry pulls him closer, holding him tightly.

“There's nothing wrong with being gay, Lou.” He smacks a wet kiss onto the side of Louis' face.

“I know, Hazza.” Louis sniffles loudly. “But did I really have to be murdered over something as stupid as that?”

“No. You shouldn't have been murdered at all.” Harry whispers. He hears the rain outside pick up a little and holds Lou even tighter. “C'mon, Lou. Let's talk about something else. Don't want to start a storm, do we?” Harry teases. He hears the rain lighten a little and Louis lets a small smile show on his face.

“No, we wouldn't want a storm.” Louis rolls over to face Harry. “What shall we talk about instead?”

“What's Heaven like? Hopefully nothing like Hell. Hell sounds boring from what Liam has told me.” Harry grins, still trying to lighten the mood.

“Heaven's... whatever you want it to be. I mean, the overall layout is the same. God is still in the center and the gates actually are pearly. The version of Heaven you see is whatever you want to see.” Louis pauses, smiling again. “If you wanted Heaven to be fire-y and full of brimstone like Hell, you could conjure up that image, I suppose.” Harry hears the rain outside slow to a stop.

“If I wanted a stairway to Heaven, would it appear?” Harry giggles at his own joke. Louis rolls his eyes, amused.

“Yeah, I suppose it would.” Louis says, unconsciously threading his fingers through Harry's.

“Is there really a God in Heaven?” Harry asks, not noticing Lou's hand snaking around his own.

“Yep.” Louis nods. “The current God is named Zayn.” Harry raises an eyebrow at that.

“Current God?” He repeats, a little confused. Louis nods again.

“The person we call “God” changes every so often. There are certain criteria to fit to be eligible for the position and we like to rotate them out to keep everything running fairly.” Louis elaborates.

“Oh.” Harry says, yawning. He hadn't been sleepy since he'd become a ghost. Louis' eyebrows crinkle in worry.

“Are you tired, Harry?” He asks seriously.

“A little.” Harry admits.

“Shit.” Lou curses. “We need to hurry up and finish your tasks. If you fall asleep, it'll be too late.”

\- - -

Harry and Louis pushed through the crowd, literally, as they headed up to the edge of the stage. Harry had figured out his next task a couple of days ago and Lou arranged it for him. For some reason, he'd never been to a live concert and that's what he wanted to do. So far, it seemed like all of his tasks were stupid, menial things. He hoped his next task would be something more meaningful, but quick to execute. His yawning had started occurring more and more.

Just as they were about to dim the lights to signal the start of the concert, Liam popped on stage. Louis nor Harry notice, lost in the buzz of the crowd. Smirking, Liam goes around and pops the bulbs in the colored lights meant for use during the show. The crowd is loud enough they don't hear the glass shattering. Next, he tinkers with the tuning pegs on all of the guitars, tightening some and loosening others. Giggling, he heads over to the power cables for the amps to slice them in half when he's stopped dead in his tracks.

“What do you think you're doing?” Louis growls, standing in front of Liam.

“You know I have to try and ruin this for you, Louis. It's part of the game.” Liam crows, grinning.

“This isn't a fucking game, Liam.” Louis spits, accidentally letting loose a boom of thunder that gets lost in the noise.

“Naughty language, Boo.” Liam giggles. “D'you remember that name? Your mum gave it to you, didn't she?” Liam's giggle turns into a cackle. Louis glowers at Liam.

“Don't you dare use that name. You lost that right when we were little. When we were alive.” Louis roars. Another, louder crash of thunder sounds. Harry hears, and pops up between the two.

“What's going on?” Harry looks at the two of them, thinking how ironic it is that Heaven and Hell are essentially about to duke it out in front of him.

“Boobear is just mad that I'm spoiling your fun!” Liam grins again, his teeth showing. Louis is on top of Liam then, wrestling him into the ground.

“I told you not to use that name, devil.” Louis hisses, throwing a punch at Liam's face. Liam disappears at the last second, causing Louis to punch the floor and let loose an enormous crack of thunder that shakes the building. “Fuck.” Louis curses, cradling his injured hand.

“Lou! You okay?” Harry rushes over and grabs Louis' hand, examining it. Louis snatches it back, thunder rumbling in the background. He sniffles a little, not expecting that to hurt so badly.

“I'm fine, Harry. I need you to enjoy the show while I keep Liam away, though. We've got to make sure you complete this task and on to the next one. The final task is supposed to be easy.” Louis disappears, leaving Harry to slink off the stage and back into the crowd.

\- - -

Though an hour late, the show eventually starts. They decided to forgo the fancy lighting the band had planned, and use simple spotlights instead. Liam hadn't popped the bulbs on those. The band ended up spending a lot of time retuning their guitars, confused as to why they were out of tune again. Louis never joins Harry again for the remainder of the show, leaving him to see his first show on his own. Harry notices it sprinkles occasionally outside, signaling each time a tear slips down Louis' face. He's unsure now if Lou is crying from pain or anger and he worries for the rest of the show.

\- - -

“Harry!” Liam squeals as he pops into Harry's bedroom. “That was quite fun, wasn't it?” He adds, giggling.

“Not really, no.” Harry says flatly, hoping Liam will just go away. Just as he's finished speaking, a yawn escapes, causing Harry to slap a hand over his mouth.

“Aww, what's this? Is wittle Harry getting sweepy?” Liam coos.

“No.” Harry insists.

“Someone's running out of time!” Liam giggles. “It'd be easier, y'know, if you just came to Hell with me. You'd never have to finish your third task.” Liam teases, stretching out on Harry's bed.

“Why'd you call Louis 'Boobear'?” Harry decides to change the subject. He's still not interested in going to Hell.

“He didn't tell you?” Liam sobers up a little at the question, wondering why Louis always seemed to be leaving information out when it came to spirits in limbo.

“No.” Harry shakes his head. Liam grins. This was going to be good, he just knows it.

“We knew each other when we were alive. His mum used to call him 'Boobear' or just 'Boo' as a term of endearment. I used to be his best mate when we were younger, but he got really angry when I told everyone he liked blokes.” Liam grins at the memory. “He never let me call him that again.” Harry stiffens at what he's just heard.

“Why the fuck did you tell everyone he liked guys?!”

“Calm down, Harry.” Liam smirks. “I didn't know he was actually gay until we were both dead.”

“Oh.” Harry replies, deflating a little. A moment later, he realizes what his third task is. Liam perks up, sensing that Harry knows.

“Someone knows their last task, then.” He states, grinning. Harry blushes.

“Just go away, Liam.” Harry glares at Liam, a blush still on his face. He was screwed, he thinks as Liam disappears from the room.

\- - -

Harry finds himself wrapped around Louis again when he says it. “I know what my last task is, Lou.”

Louis untangles himself from Harry and sits up. “What is it, then?” He asks, grinning. This was supposed to be the easiest task out of all of them, he thinks. Harry avoids his gaze and fiddles with a loose thread on the clothes he died in.

“I wanna fall in love.” He mumbles, shy.

“What?”

“I wanna fall in love.” He says a little louder, still avoiding Lou's eyes. Louis' jaw drops.

“Wait. But...” Louis trails off. “... S'posed to be the easiest one!” He finishes, staring at Harry in shock. “How're we supposed to manage that?!” He asks, on the verge of hysteria. Harry blushes. Louis eyes him suspiciously. “What aren't you telling me, Harry?”

“'M gay.” Harry replies, avoiding the real answer. Louis stares at him.

“And?” He prompts. Harry rolls over and tries to bury his face in a pillow, but ends up sticking his head halfway through it. “And?” Louis prompts again.

“I want them to tell me they love me back.” He mumbles, still avoiding the subject.

“You already love someone?” Louis grins, prepared to tease Harry.

“Yeah.”

“Who is it?” Louis presses. He hasn't felt this excited in a while. Love was always one of his favorite topics. “C'mon, Haz. You can tell me. Who is it?” He sees Harry swallow, hard.

“You.” Harry whispers. When he looks up, Louis is gone.

\- - -

No, Louis thinks. Hazza cannot be in love with me. That's impossible. He definitely can't love him back, either. It's not advisable, he tells himself. It's downright _stupid_. Who picks “falling in love” as the third task, anyways? The third task was supposed to be easy, breezy, beautiful, Louis thinks. No CoverGirl. Just plain and simple. No mess. No love.

\- - -

Harry hasn't moved from being face down in bed in quite a while. He's not sure how long he's been there, but he can feel himself getting sleepier and sleepier each day. At one point, Liam stops by.

“You're close, Harry.” Liam muses.

“Close to what, Liam?” Harry grumbles. He's not really in the mood to talk to Liam right now.

“Close to forgetting yourself.” Liam responds, a small smile on his face. 

“How much longer?” Harry asks, sensing that Liam knows somehow.

“Clock says you've got... Wait for it...” Liam pauses, staring avidly at the clock that appeared over Harry's head. “Twenty four hours exactly.”

“'M really sleepy, Li.” Harry mumbles, feeling too drained to use Liam's full name.

“Now would be a good time to come to Hell with me. We both know that Louis isn't going to come back for you." Liam offers, smiling sympathetically, sensing the cogs turning in Harry's head. Hopefully he'll agree to go with him and he can get this over with, Liam thinks.

“Come for me when I've got a minute left. Then we can go.” Harry decides, still holding on to hope that Louis will come back.

“I don't carry people to Hell, Harry.” Liam says.

“Fine. Two minutes.” Liam rolls his eyes at that.

“I'll make an exception for you, I suppose.” He disappears, leaving Harry to mope in bed.

\- - -

Harry's got twenty minutes left when Louis reappears in his room. He hasn't moved from the spot Louis last saw him, still face down on the bed with his head halfway through the pillow. Louis clears his throat loudly, hoping Harry would look up.

“You're early, Li.” Harry whispers, not moving any part of his body.

“Li? What's Liam got to do with anything?” Louis asks, confused. Harry tries to whip his head up at Louis' voice, but it comes out as more of a slow and drawn out movement.

“What're you doing here, Lou?” Harry mumbles, putting his head back down on the pillow sideways. It was a little uncomfortable, but he didn't want to look away. Louis looked more like an angel now than he ever had.

“That's not important right now. Why is Liam coming?” Louis repeats.

“Made a deal with him. Two minutes left, he takes me to Hell.” Harry mumbles, wishing the remaining twelve minutes would go by a little faster. He loves looking at Lou, but it hurts to know there's no way he could be loved back in such a short amount of time.

“You made a deal with him?” Louis voice takes a slight tone of hysteria to it. “Why would you do that?! You know that deals with the devil are binding, right?”

“No. But it doesn't matter.” Harry whispers after a minute, feeling sleepier by the second. He was having trouble staying awake.

“He's right, Louis.” Liam chimes in as he pops into the room.

“This doesn't concern you, Liam.” Louis says, exasperated. He pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

“Oh, I think it does concern me. He made a deal and I'm going to make sure he honors it.” Liam retorts, a small grin appearing on his face.

“He's not going through with the deal. I'll make sure he gets out of it, somehow.”

“He can't get out unless you manage to get him to Heaven before he's got two minutes, Louis. And you know you can't take him back unless he's completed his tasks. How are you going to convince him you love him in the next ten minutes?” Liam replies, his voice distorting slightly as the time for him to go back to Hell drew nearer. Harry lifts his head up slowly, hope filling his chest as he listens to Liam's words. Could Louis love him?

“I can try.” Louis spits, letting loose a rumble of thunder. His voice almost seems to chime, Harry thinks. Louis turns to Harry. “Can you sit up?” Harry nods slowly in response, slowly maneuvering his body into an upright position. It takes him a solid three minutes, and he can feel Louis growing impatient.

Louis walks over to the bed, climbs into Harry's lap and stares into his green eyes. “I need you to believe me.” Louis whispers, “I love you back, Harry.” There's three minutes left and nothing happens. Louis licks his lips unconsciously, knowing what he has to do to get Harry to believe him. He leans down and presses a kiss to Harry's lips and waits for him to respond.

A moment later, he feels Harry kissing him back and a warmth start emanating from him. This is easier than he thought it would be. This will be a hell of a way to show up in Heaven, Louis thinks, sitting on the lap of a boy he loves and kissing him. It's sure to cause some controversy, he thinks.

Harry feels a weight lift off of his shoulders and the tiredness ebb away as he kisses Louis. He hears Liam growl in the background but ignores him. Louis loves him, he thinks. This is real. He's going to fucking _Heaven_. When Harry opens his eyes again, he's in paradise.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't relevant to the story, really, but I decided that angels would produce rain and thunder because of something my mother told me when I was little. I was really afraid of thunderstorms and hadn't yet formed my own opinion on religion. She told me that the thunder and rain was the angels beating on drums and crying, respectively. She never told me why they were crying, just that they were sad. She told me the lightning was from the other angels, who weren't sad, just playing flashlight tag! I didn't believe her (and still don't, haha) and was still terrified of thunderstorms.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Your comments and kudos and bookmarks and everything mean a lot to me, really. I actually read each username of the people who leave kudos and bookmarks and it makes me happy to see a lot of you leaving kudos and bookmarking more than one of my works! I also fangirl a lot when a writer I'm familiar with leaves kudos. I definitely read all of your comments and really enjoy replying to them.


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